A Developer’s Guide to SQL Server 2005

7. SQL Engine Enhancements

SQL SERVER 2005 includes new SQL engine functionality. The enhancements span the range from an alternative mechanism for transaction isolation to a new way of using query hints. And statement-level recompilation even improves existing SQL applications that were written before 2005.

Improvements to the SQL Engine

Microsoft has continually improved the Transact-SQL (T-SQL) language and the infrastructure of SQL Server itself. In brief, the improvements in SQL Server 2005 include the following:

• SNAPSHOT isolation—Additional isolation level that does not use write locks

• Statement-level recompile—More efficient recompilation of stored procedures

• Event Notifications—Integration of Data Definition Language (DDL) and ...